Airship.



3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

AIRSHIP.

R. CARLSON.

"lllllll HIIII R. CARLSON.

AIRS-HIP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16,1910.

. v 1 y L COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO 'ASHINGTDN. DA C.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.,

RN. MMV

WITNESEES- 7%? R. CARLSON AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16,1910.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANoaRAPH e0.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

ROBERT CARLSON, OF CORBIN, MONTANA.

AIRSI'IIP.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

Application filed March 16, 1910. Serial No. 549,632.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT CARLSON, of Corbin, in the county of Jederson and State of Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Airships, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ying machines or air ships of the dirigible balloon type, and has for its object to provide improved driving and controlling means by which the air ship may be propelled and its height controlled, together with novel means for rigidly connecting the car with the driving and controlling means, and flexibly conneet-ing the same with the buoyant body or member of the air ship.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated an air ship or dirigible balloon illustrating the principles of my invention, from which, and from the following description referring to said drawings, the essential principles of the invention maybe understood. c

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the air ship. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 4c is a perspective view of one of the propelling or driving elements by which the air ship is set in motion. Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view of the part of the said propelling elementI representing a section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The air ship comprises essentially a supporting body or member 1, a car 2 in which the operator is carried, propelling members 3 by which the air ship is put in horizontal motion, and an elevating and lowering device t and a motor 5, with suitable driving connections to the propelling means and height controlling means.

The supporting body 1 is preferably a gas bag of sufficiently light, strong and impervious fabric of proper dimensions to contain a sufficient volume of light gas to suspend the weight of the machine and its load in the air. Preferably the gas bag is made in cylindrical form, with lpointed ends, to reduce air resistance to the minimum. The car 2 is suspended from the gas bag by any suitable flexible suspension means, such as a rope mesh fabric 6 assing around the upper portion of the gas ag and connected at its opposite edges to the car. The propelling members 3 are preferably planes or blades, of which there are two sets, one on each side of the air ship, which are driven horizontally in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the air ship. The blades are carried by flexible carriers, preferably bands or belts 7 and 8, shown in Fig. 2, each blade being connected to two bands. The bands are carried over pulleys 9, 10, 11 and 12, which hold them parallel to the longitudinal axis of the air ship. Thus as the bands are driven, the propelling blades are carried by the lower stretches of the bands from front to rear of the air ship, and by the upper .stretches of the bands from the rear forward. I provide in connection with these blades guides for causing their resistance'to the air to be reduced to the minimum when moving forwardly, so that they are enabled to act only when passing from the forward end toward the rear of the air ship, and are thus enabled to propel the air ship forward. The guides are represented at 13 and are parallel with the belts or bands 7 and 8, and at such a height above the latter as to permit the blades to pass under them, but to bend the blades back almost flat on the bands, whereby the blades in passing from the rear to the front are carried practically edgewise and present the least possible surface to the air. At each end of the guide 13 are curved strips 11i and 16 respectively, which allow the blades to assume gradually their perpendicular position with respect to the carrying bands when passing around the forward guide pulleys 9 and 11, and respectively to be gradually bent back against the carrying bands when passing around the rear guide pulleys 10 and 12. The strips or auxiliary guides 14C and 15 are curved eccentrically to the guiding pulleys, and their lower ends are separated from said pulleys by a greater distance than the length of the blades. In order to permit the blades to be thus brought alternately approximately parallel with and perpendicular to the carrying band I prefer to construct them somewhat as shown in Figs. 3 and 4f. As here shown, each plate consists of a frame having ends 16 and 17, sides 18 and 19 and alight fabric 20 between the members of the frame. Preferably the end member 16 is a bar contained in blocks 21, 22, carried by the bands 7 and S respectively, in which they are fixedly held by means of set screws 23 or otherwise. The side members 18 and 19 of the frame are preferably strips of elastic and resilient uniterial, such as spring steel oit sutlicient flexibility vto enable them to be bent'bacl against the bands and of sutlicient resilience and stitlness to cause them to spring back perpr-ndicular to the band when the blades are tree et the guides, and to cause them to exert. su'l'licient pressure against. the air tor obtainitieY the itorn'ard propulsive effect.

desired the blades may be set so that when not under stress they extend at a slightly acute angle to the bands. in order to neutralize the tendency vvhich the resistance of the air might have to bend them, so that Awhen at Work they will act squarely in the line of proi'iulsion.

fr convenient mechanical construction for the spring sides of the frame is to torm the strips of tvvice the length of the blade.y bendiue' them around the member 17 ol1 the iframe and binding' them together to clamp 'the edges of the fabric 2O betvveen them. llor fastening' the ends ot the fabric sheet to the members 16 and 17 of the traine, the latter members may be recessed as shown in Fia'. 5 and the fabric clamped in the recess by a binding' strip 24:. l desire it to be understood that. although this is a convenient and practical ivay oit constructing' the blades, it is bv no means the only manner in which they may be made.` but it is also feasible to have the blade made from a single sheet ot sulliciently resilient and stift, strong metal.

l prefer to provi 'le three blades in each setq as this arrangement enables me to have at least one blade in t'ull operation at all times.

rl'he motor 5 is contained in the car 2 and drives the blades through the following' connections. ln the car is a. transverse shatt driven from the motor shaft by a belt 2G and pulley7 27. On the ends ol the shaft outside of the car are pulleys or sprocket Wheels 2T?. which drive belts. ropes or chains passing' over pi'llleys or sprocket Wheels 25) on shal'ts 30. Each of these shafts carries pulleys 3l and 32 on its end, which by means of belts 33 and 3ft respectively drive the shafts and 3G, carrying' the pulleys 9, l0. 'll and l2 for the driving' blade carriers. The construction of the propellers,v and the means for drivin/Q` them, are alike on both sides or the air ship, so that the description o" one sutlces for both.

rllhe l.guides and supports for the propelling' blades and the driving means therefor form aA rigid frame Work connected with the ban'. so that all the parts are held in their proper relations. rlhe frame Work consists of longitudinal bars 37, tivo of said bars beine' arranged on each side ot the gas bag'. transverse rods 38 connecting' each pair ot bars 37 and depending` vertical U-shaped members 39 inortised into the longitudinal bars, and carrying the shafts 30, 35 and 36.

These vertical members are connected with the ban' by straps ll0, which surround the bag' and have lugs l-Oa on which the membersl 39 rest, and in which pins yl0" projecting' from the lower ends of the members are contained.

Inside of the bag', Within the Zones encircled by the bands Ll0, are sti tl'enine; bands of thin Wood veneer or other sul'liciently light and strong' material, which are preterably somewhat wider than the bands il0 and prevent the latter from indentina' and distorting' the fabric oit the bag. T he propelling' means and the guides therefor are thus supported by the gas bag' independently oi" the car, and independently ot the rope mesh or net G, which supports the latter. Rods ell are adjustably connected at their lower ends With the car, and at their upper ends pass through the lues -lOiL of the bands l0, for the purpose merely ot' steadyine` the car and preventing it from swaying'. These rods do not act in any sense as supporting' means for the car` and are so adjusted iin length that the entire weight of the car is borne by the net. Preferably the latter is connected with the car in such a ivay that it may be adjusted so as to raise o1' lower the car with respect to the gas bag; and the propelling; blades, and thus obtain the proper tension on the belts or chains 2S. As a convenient mode of attaching' the net. lY propose to attach st 'aps and buckles at suit-- able intervals along` the sides ot the car and pass the straps around portions oit the net or outer eyes in a t'abric binding' or other stili'ener connected to the edges or the net.

By adjusting' these straps in the buckles,

an adjustment may be made of the car suitcient to secure exactly the proper degree of tension in the belts or chains.

For steering the air ship l provide rudders 42 at t-he after part thereoi", pivoted upon vertical pintle rods 1-3. which connect the halves of a. ring or band i3@ sui 'i' iuiml- 110 ine` the bag'. These rudders are normally held in a straight liore-and-aft position by springs #le coiled about their pintle rods and pressing' them against stops lhey are controlled by lines 4:6 passing' around pul- 115 leys t7 and 4S into reach of the occupant of the car. The rudders and their operating devices are identical with eac-h other, but oppositely arranged, and a description of one applies to both. Each rudder is therefore effective for turning' the ship in only one direction, the port rudder with its controlling` line being' used for guiding' the ship to port, and the starboard rudder being' used for guiding' it to starboard.

For controlling the elevation ot the air ship, l provide a vertically acting` propeller 4t, consisting oi two or more inclined blades or venes carried by a vertical shaft e9, Which preferably is arranged below the car 130 and projecting through the car bottom 6. rIhis shaft is driven by the motor through beveled gearing thrown into operation by a suitable clutch when desired. It will be readily understood that by rotating the elevating and lowering propeller and adjusting or reversing the angles of the blades thereof, the air ship as a whole may be raised or lowered at any desired s eed. For permitting adjustment of the bla es the latter are made independent of one another and formed with shanks 5l, which are held in a hub 52 carried by the shaft 49. These shanks have arms 53 adapted to be turned for adjusting and reversing the pitch of the blades, by the operator reaching down from the car with his hand or any implement suitable for the purpose.

In order to anchor the air ship to the earth and prevent it from careening, I provide on the lower end of the shaft 49 a screw 54 which is driven into the earth by rotation of the shaft. Above the screw is a foot piece 55 in the form o`f a disk on the shaft,

' which bears upon the ground when the screw is driven in and assists in steadying the machine.

I claim,-

l. An air ship comprising a buoyant gas container, a car suspended from said container, a motor in said car, a belt, bands surrounding the container, a frame secured to said bands, guides for the belt mounted on said frame, a propelling blade carried by said belt and moved bodily thereby, being independent of the car, and a driving connection between said motor and belt.

2. An air ship comprising a buoyant sustaining member, a car suspended from said member, a driving motor mounted in said car, a rigid frame work connected with said sustaining member, endless belts mounted on said frame work on each side of the sustaining member, guide pulleys about Vwhich said belts pass located so as to hold the belts extending' in a fore and aft direction, blades carried by said belts rigidly connected thereto so as toextend perpendicularly therefrom, but being elastic and yielding, whereby they may be bent back close to the belts, and a guide adjacent to each belt so arranged as to bend back the blades on the stretches of the belt which travel in direction of movement of the ship, and to release the blades on those stretches of the belt which travel in the opposite direction, whereby said blades are caused to advance the ship.

3. An air ship comprising a container for buoyant gas, a iieXible fabric surrounding the upper part of said container and hanging freely therefrom at the sides, a car secured to and supported by such flexible fabric, bands surrounding the container, frames secured to said bands on each side of the container, guide pulleys carried by said frames, endless belts passing about said guide pulleys, propelling blades carried by said belts, a motor mounted in the car, and driving mechanism operated by said motor and connected with said belts for driving the latter and the blades.

4. An air ship comprising a container for buoyant gas, a flexible fabric surrounding the upper part of said container and hanging freely therefrom at the sides, a car secured to and supported by such flexible fabric, bands surrounding the container, frames secured to said bands on each side of the container, guide pulleys carried by said frames, endless belts passing about said guide pulleys, propelling blades carried by said belts, a motor mounted in the car, and driving mechanism operated by said motor and connected with said belts for driving the latter and the blades, and rods connected with the car and frames at their lower and upper ends respectively for steadying the car and preventing it from swaying. l

In testimony whereof I have aliXed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

I). W. PEZZE'r'rI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

